Justify buying a higher end fish finder?

[chiquita]

Hey everyone,
I would like some opinions on here about justifying buying a higher end color fish finder. Particularly, the new Lowrance x107.

I've been using the fish finder I got with my boat, a cheap Eagle 600plus. I primarily troll the salt alot on my boat for salmon. Primarily in the Puget Sound and the Straights of Juan De Fuca. I've done pretty well finding fish. And putting fish in the boat.

How much am I missing out on by not running a higher resolution COLOR screen?

I always second guess myself before making a purchase for my boat, and I'm planning on buying something by the end of next week.

[Rough Rider]

Check out Si-Tex CV106l Color Sounder. I have it installed on my boat with transom mount triducer. Runs great at high speeds for holding bottom and the resolution is good even in sunlight glare. The unit ran about $600.00 and it took about an hour and a half to install. Most time consuming was routing the cable through the chase. Have been very pleased with the unit and plan on buying the ColorMAx 6 chartplotter sometime this year. Hope this helps.

[jtburf]

High end units ...well with what gas now cost and the advances in Technology ...
your saving money buy spending monsy on new Technology .....

Let me know if I can help ...

John

[tprice]

I guess it depends on how you find your fish. We need/like a lot of detail for freshwater stripers and that is why I changed to a Lowrance unit. Most of the guys I fish with live and die with the X15's(monochrome) and like some are now changing over to the color units.

I had a Furuno 600l which is a great machine but it did not have the detail I was looking for but it is a hard unit to beat for the money.
I have always used monochrome until I had the 600 and once you have the color I could not imagine going back to black and white.

I also wanted a combo unit, I also have a stand alone gps and handheld gps just in case. In my case it was a matter of not wanting to much on the console and my electronics box is full(vhf, furuno gps, radio and storage).

I also have noticed that most of the walleye fishermen use the lowrance units for the detail.

Now I am the first to admit that Lowrance does not have as good of a reputation as Furuno but from the guys I fish with around here they get great customer service when needed. Also I know that Furuno gives great customer service as well.

There are others well like the new machine from Raymarine and I hear they are nice also.

Good luck and if you have any specific questions answered you have come to the right place.

[shouldabeen]

dang tprice.......i striper fish all the time and can mark fish sitting in, and around trees in 150 ft of water pretty as you please with my 600l.. ......can watch a 1/4 ounce jig bounce up and down off the bottom, only 6 inches or so in 50 or 60 ft of water....just wondering if you had a bad unit or you had your sens cranked up enough to show alot of detail.....i couldnt ask for a better detailed machine than my 600...good luck with that lowrance....they have come a long way in the past few years... .......btw......how do you guys fish for stripers down there ????

[tprice]

Well I guess I have been spoiled by fishing with guys with the Lowrance units and they interpret everything for me. I did like the 600 but it still did not have the detail I was looking for.

I will be the first to admit I am a little concerned about Lowrance's reputation but I was really wanting a combo unit as well.


The stripers are picking back up right now, we had a very warm spell and it kinda shut them down and now they are starting to pick back up.

We do a lot of slow trolling with electric motors and live blue back herring on freelines and planer boards.

Some folks also do very well with umbrella rigs right now.

However as luck would have it I am entering my busiest time of the year and will not have a chance to fish much in the next month or so.

[chiquita]

Let me elaborate a little on my fishing. I fish primarly for salmon on my boat, except for the 6 weeks WA gives us to fish for Ling Cod, on the weekends only. Anyhow, most of my fishing is done in 150 feet of water, except for the few times out of the year were I go to the Straits to fish for coho in 4-500 feet of water, but they're usually no deeper than 100 feet. I also like to do alot of blackmouth fishing. Resident Kings that hug the bottom at about 100-150 feet of water. I'm in a smaller boat (17footer) so I don't go out very far. And like I said, I've done pretty well putting fish in the boat. I just want to know if I'm missing much.

[SWFLNavigation]

Better read the Lowrance trheads before buying one of thier color screens. Look at the Raymarine DS600X, Furuno 600L. best of luck

[MrPat]

chiquita - 1/23/2005 11:55 PM

Let me elaborate a little on my fishing. I fish primarly for salmon on my boat, except for the 6 weeks WA gives us to fish for Ling Cod, on the weekends only. Anyhow, most of my fishing is done in 150 feet of water, except for the few times out of the year were I go to the Straits to fish for coho in 4-500 feet of water, but they're usually no deeper than 100 feet. I also like to do alot of blackmouth fishing. Resident Kings that hug the bottom at about 100-150 feet of water. I'm in a smaller boat (17footer) so I don't go out very far. And like I said, I've done pretty well putting fish in the boat. I just want to know if I'm missing much.

How do you locate your fish? I use my FF to see bottom detail, including seeing snapper on the bottom. If you don't need to see detail on the bottom and you just need to know how deep you are, just keep what you have.

[JVLII]

Chiquita-

I fish L. Michigan for salmon and I would NO question go for a color machine. I have a JRC, but any of the good color machines will show what I consider to be as or more important than marking the fish is showing the thermocline. This is where color is invaluable.

Good Luck

JVLII

[Bullshipper]

Eagle is made by Lowrance if I am not mistaken. Unless you want to really spend some dough on a Furuno 582, I would stay with what your using on your little boat as conditions are usually wet in your neck of the woods, and expensive fish finders crap out the same way cheap ones do if they are not adequetly protected.
I had a lot of repeated problems with a Lowrance X15 and this really soured me one them, so its hard for me to recommend the switch to Lowrance.

[akskydiver]

I had the Lowrance X85 (monochrome) for about 6 years and it worked ok. I wanted a dual-frequency transducer and decided to get the Lowrance X107CDF (color dual frequency). I won't be able to install and use it until things thaw out up here, but it sure looks pretty hooked up to some D batteries in my living room

[salmon9]

I am always in a quandry. I like to boat, prefer quality and I am cheap. It's a tough balancing act. Cost/benefit analysis is always on my mind. When it comes to sounders I would love a quality color unit; however, I find for my salmon fishing around Vancouver Island I can not justify the cost for my budget. A unit with good power, at least 320 x 320 pixels and a well matched and mounted transducer works OK for me.

[Sea_Dad]

I have had a lcx-104 for a year now with zero problems. Easy to see in the daylight and with a B256 transducer flush mounted in the hull it is amazing how much better sensitivity it has over my furuno 600L had.

A huge advantage the lowrances have over other FF's is they can record the soundings along with gps coordinates for later trips, and that is worth lots and lots of fish. You think I could catch a fish or two at these spots, I found them trolling. The bottom one is at 250' with a 50' cone. The other two are red snappers out by the 27 fathom line.

[themadgaffler]

i have the lcx-19c dual frequency/gps combo unit with map create. no problems yet, works like a charm. also got it at a good discount as it is being/has been discontinued.